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Why is your blog not making money?…

You see other bloggers making money.  You've probably seen income reports like these on Pinterest.

Why does it feel like everyone but you is making thousands of dollars blogging???

It may appear that everyone is making money blogging, but that's not true.  In fact, MOST bloggers make ZERO money blogging…

Let's start with why people start blogs.

70% of people said they started a blog to make money?

BlogTyrant.com ran a survey of bloggers last year and this is what they found.

Almost 70% of bloggers responded that they started a blog to make a side income or to make a full-time income. (Multiple answers were allowed on this survey question)

It's safe to say that a majority of bloggers start a blog to make money to some extent.

I completely understand why people start blogs to make money.  I'd be willing to bet that almost every blogger who starts a blog to make money has seen or heard a success story of someone who makes a full-time income blogging.

To be honest, that's why I got into online business…

I saw people just like me making thousands of dollars per month on the internet.

No boss. No job. No restrictions.

The dream life!

Maybe you don't want the “dream life” and that's ok.  Maybe you started a blog to make money because you really have no other good option for your current circumstance!

Many stay-at-home moms turn to blogging as a way to make extra money because there aren't many other options out there for good work from home!

As a stay-at-home parent, your children come first. 

They require A LOT of your time and attention.  Getting a job isn't always an option, even if it's a “stay-at-home” job…

You're forced to look for a way to make money in as little time as possible (so you can care for your kids).

Blogging seems like a good option right?

Write when you have time, and the money comes in!  Pretty simple! But NOT as easy at it sounds.  You know that by now…

Let's look at another statistic from the BlogTyrant.com survey.

70% of bloggers said they make ZERO money blogging.

The craziest part about this number is that it's ZERO dollars per year.  Not $5 per year or $100 per year.  $0 per year.

It's baffling to me that 7 out of 10 bloggers don't even make $1 from their blog.  It's not only baffling, but it's also concerning.

I'm genuinely concerned that millions of bloggers aren't making any money.

I don't know exactly how many blogs exist but it's easily in the millions.  I've seen one site claim there are 1.94 Billion websites on the internet today and a good amount of those are probably blogs.

I've also read that there are over 4 Million blog posts published DAILY!

If we do the math… 70% of bloggers make zero money…

70% of 4 Million Blog Posts = 2.8 Million Blog Posts PER DAY that will make ZERO money.

Every day almost 3 million blog articles are published that probably won't make a dime.

Are you part of those 3 million posts???

Blogging for money can be very discouraging… It sounded simple when you started, but you're quickly realizing this is a crazy game you've gotten into.  Is it time to give up and move on?

I don't think so!

My entire goal is to help more bloggers to make money.  I'd like to see that 70% number drop drastically!  I've spent years studying people who make money blogging and how they're doing it.

Trust me… These people are not better than you!  It all starts with your mindset.

There are two mindsets for this epidemic of bloggers who don't make money:

#1 – “Blogging is too competitive and it's not even worth trying to make money doing it.”

#2 – “Millions of bloggers are making money blogging and I can be one of them.”

Remember!  If 70% of bloggers make zero money blogging… That means that 30% of bloggers ARE making money!

How do you get out of the 70% and join the 30%?

If you've been blogging for some time now with little success the answer is simple.

Do something different.  

You must change what you're currently doing if you want to see different results.

“The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, but expecting different results.”

Albert Einstein

In this guide, I'm going to break down in as much detail as possible, what you need to do different to see different results.

I'm fascinated by the science of first impressions.

Human behavior and psychology are very interesting topics of study (and very valuable to know if you want to make money).

There are some very interesting studies about first impressions in human interaction, and I strongly believe many of the same theories apply to blogs as well.

I'll explain…

Let's start with physical appearance:

“This Dutch study found that people wearing name-brand clothes — Lacoste and Tommy Hilfiger, to be precise — were seen as higher status than folks wearing non-designer clothes.”

Your physical appearance affects how people view your status.

It makes sense…

When you see someone dressed in nice clothes or fancy brands what do you think about that person?

• They drive a nice car.
• They have a nice job.
• They make a lot of money.
• They have a high social status.

A homeless man could shower, shave, do his hair, and walk down the sidewalk on Wall Street in a suit and tie and you'd never think he was homeless.

Appearance speaks louder than words when it comes to first impressions.

Teeth are also a big factor in first impressions.  Here are some interesting stats from Invisalign.

Across the board, people are perceived more likely to be happy, successful and “second-date worthy” if they have straight teeth.

Not to mention 29% of Americans say teeth are the first facial feature noticed when meeting someone… Fun party fact.

Here is more fun data on the science of first impressions:

People decide on your trustworthiness in a tenth of a second.

Princeton researchers found this out by giving one group of university students 100 milliseconds to rate the attractiveness, competence, likeability, aggressiveness, and trustworthiness of actors' faces.

People make a decision on whether they trust you in 1/10th of second!

Just by looking at you!

There's more…

CraftCV did a fun little presentation with some tips for your next job interview.  I liked some of the points they made.

What's the key takeaway here?

Only 7% of first impressions are based on your actual words. 93% is based on how you look or sound.

The rest of the presentation CraftCV put together is based completely on helping you look and act the way you should in a job interview.  They don't even bother telling you what you should say.

Why bother…?

It's not really THAT important what you say… It matters, but not as much as you may think.

How does the science of first impressions apply to your blog?

People are CONSTANTLY making first impressions about EVERYTHING!  It's part of our primitive brain (which I'll discuss more here soon).

The impact of first impressions is crucial to understand…

Brands and businesses that understand this are usually the ones that are doing very well.

Think about Apple.

Have you ever purchased an Apple product? The iPhone? Apple Watch?

They make one of the best first impressions I've ever seen in a product business.

Apple has amazing products. But the experience of opening a new Apple product is unlike any competitor.

The packaging is near perfect.  So much detail is put into the packaging that the box is measured precisely to produce the perfect slide friction when you pull the top off.  If you've ever purchased an iPhone you know what I mean…

And the best part for sure is peeling off the plastic screen protector… 😌😌😌

Apple knows they have an amazing product, and you've already made the purchase, so why not just put the iPhone in some cheap box and save money?

They spend money on the packaging because Apple understands the importance of a good first impression.

It's one of the many reasons why they have the strongest brand loyalty of all smartphone brands.

Apple has clearly figured it out.

Reason #1 Why Your Blog Makes ZERO Money – You Don't Make a Good First Impression.

If you don't believe me check this stat…

94% of bad website experiences are design related.

And to follow that up…

88% of users are less likely to return to a website after a bad experience.

I'm no Albert Einstein but poor design ➡️ bad experience  ➡️ not coming back.

First impressions are vital to good experiences.  The challenge is you don't have much time to make a good impression.

Forbes says businesses have 7 seconds…

You also have about 7 seconds to make a good first impression with your blog.

People will make a first impression of the quality of your blog very quickly based on its appearance.

What is the impact of this?

If your blog design is bad, you will have bad results.

You might be the best writer in the world.  But if you don't make a good first impression with the way your blog looks to your readers, they might leave, and they won't come back.

That's the science of first impressions.  Let's talk about how to manage it.

The appearance of your blog has many components.  You need to think about ALL OF THEM if you want to maximize your chances for success in a very crowded blogging world.

• The logo or wordmark for your blog.
• The menu of your blog.
• The homepage of your blog.
• The photos on your blog.
• The colors on your blog.
• The text fonts on your blog (including size and color)
• The widgets or sidebars on your blog.
• The footer on your blog.
• The layout of your blog (and blog posts).

Every single design aspect of your blog needs to be considered if you want to reach the financial goals you have for your blog.

Many bloggers I talk to, mentor, and meet with are mesmerized by, “CONTENT IS KING!” 😱😱😱

They're so trained to only think, “I HAVE TO FOCUS ON MY CONTENT OR MY BLOG WILL SUCK!!!” that they neglect the importance of design and branding.

Content is very important.  But if you don't make a good first impression, your blog visitor will “walk out of the restaurant without ever tasting the food…”

People ask me to review their blogs, tell them how they can fix their articles, ask where to include affiliate links, etc…

99% of the time I don't even read the article.

Not because I'm rude!  But because that's the least of their problems at this point…

If I go to your blog to review an article and I'm getting a poor first impression based on the design qualities on the page I'm not gonna read your article anyway.

I'm going to leave and look for something better.

How do you improve the design of your blog?

The answer to this question is simple.

You create a brand.

Just like Apple, you create a brand for your blog.  There are a lot of technical strategies for building a brand, but for bloggers, I like to keep it simple.

Ask yourself these two questions:

1. Who do you want to reach?
2. What do you want to be known for?

When you can answer those two questions clearly you have your brand.  Now you can start designing it.

Blogging just to blog will not make you money in today's world.

If I had to guesstimate, I'd be willing to bet that of the 70% of bloggers who said they make ZERO money blogging… 69% of those people do not have a brand.

If you're blogging just to blog, meaning you randomly write about whatever you feel like you will have a very low probability of financial success.  That's just the way it is now.  There's too much competition.

You might know a few bloggers that blog about random stuff and make money!

Most people call this lifestyle blogging.  Which is a fancy way to say you blog about whatever you feel like.

I'm again willing to bet that 90% of lifestyle bloggers who make significant money either:

a. Have a niche within their lifestyle blog that makes them money.

b. Started blogging more than 5 years ago.

If they don't fall into one of these two categories, there's a good chance they aren't making a ton of money.

If I'm wrong in my assumptions please let me know.  I really do hope I'm wrong on this…

All bloggers who make significant money have a significant strategy.

The strategy starts by making a good first impression.

Making a good first impression starts with the design.

Design starts with a brand – knowing who you're trying to reach and what you want to do.

I was reading an email from a blog I'm subscribed to and they asked a VERY intriguing question that I wanted to ask you as well…

What is the domain name of the last blog you read?

Can you remember?

…

99% of the time I can't remember the last blog I visited.  Especially if it's a blog I'm visiting for the first time!

That's why bloggers (the successful ones) are EXTREMELY focused on getting email addresses.

They know that the chances of you coming back to their website are very slim…

Here is how MOST blog article reading goes:

1. User searches a keyword on Google.
2. Finds the most interesting/relevant search result (95% of the time in the top 5 search results)
3. Clicks through to the website.
4. Scans the page in less than 3 seconds.
   1. If page looks relevant – user begins quick scan of headlines, images, content.
      1. If quick scan checks out, user begins reading article.
   2. If page does NOT look relevant – user bounces to another search result.
5. If 2-3 of the search results don't work out, user searches a new term.
6. When user finds desired information the session is ended.

Adam Connell, who is in some of my Pinterest groups and boards writes that about 75% of blog visitors won't return to your website.

The reason why 75% of your visitors won't come back is that they aren't usually looking for a new blog to follow and read on a consistent basis.

Users are looking for specific information, and once they get that information they are usually satisfied.

Think about your own searches…

How many times have you searched Google for something and had the thought, “I'm going to look for a website that I can subscribe to and come back and read weekly!”

Never…

Have you ever thought, “Wow I really hope this website has an email list I can subscribe to!”

Rarely…

Your blog visitors don't need you… You need them!

There are a bajillion websites where people can find the information they are looking for.  They really don't need you.  But if you want to make money blogging you need them!

The ONLY way you're going to get a visitor to feel like they need you is to WOW them!

We talked about the importance of making a good first impression…

You literally have 3-7 seconds to impress your visitor or they are gone.

The human brain works quickly.

When you search Google you subconsciously remember 2-3 of the search results.  Your brain does this to help conserve energy and save time.  Your brain is looking for the path of least resistance.

It's trained to look for reasons to NOT trust a website.  At the soonest possible signal of, “THIS IS NOT WHAT YOU'RE LOOKING FOR.” Your brain remembers there were some other search results and you click the back button and keep looking.

The human brain was designed like this to help you:

• Survive
• Reduce Stress
• Conserve Energy

Thousands of years ago before the internet and technology, the human brain didn't have a whole lot to worry about:

1. Don't die.
2. Don't piss off the other humans.

Today we don't have to stress about being eaten by a saber-tooth tiger… but we do focus a lot on how we manage our energy and time.

When you understand this about the human brain you understand how vital it is to really “wow” your website visitor.

If you don't wow them with your design, content, and branding.  You'll never see them on your website again.

Think about all your favorite brands and businesses that WOW you…

I'll list a few of my favorites:

• Apple
• Jordan (Nike)
• Simms (Fishing)
• Tesla (I don't own one haha)
• Stein Eriksen Lodge (Hotel)
• The Mustang (Restaurant)

All the brands on my list have one theme in common.  They are PREMIUM brands.

Very rarely am I “wowed” by average brands and businesses…

I understand that average brands are part of our lives.  We can't all afford 5-Star hotels on a regular basis, but you have ZERO advantage in an extremely competitive blogging world by being an average brand.

The only way to rise above the millions of other blogs on the internet today is to position yourself as a premium brand.

Average isn't good enough.

Being an average blog, with average design, with average content, with average strategy, is going to provide average results.

You already know what the “average results” are for most bloggers…

70% of bloggers (or the average majority) make ZERO money blogging.

If you want to make real money blogging you have to stop being average… and it starts with your design & branding.

“How do I create a premium brand when I have no design skills?”

To be honest you don't need a college degree in graphic arts or marketing to create a premium brand for yourself.

You just have to be willing to figure it out.

Like Marie Forleo says, “Everything is figure-out-able.”

Figuring it out can be really frustrating though without some guidance, so I'm going to teach you how to create a premium brand for your blog right now.

And you don't need fancy tools or software to do this!  Remember… Tools help save time & increase quality.  But they aren't necessary.

You can build a house with a handsaw and hammer, but a table saw and nailgun sure make it easier.

I'll teach you how to create a premium brand for your blog and you can use whatever tools you feel comfortable with to get there.

Before we get into the 3 steps of premium branding you MUST discover one thing…

Your people.

Breaking News!!!

“You cannot create search demand.  You can only harvest it.”

Neil Patel

What does this mean?…

You cannot force people to search for what you're writing about.  They either already do, or they're searching for something else.

I will also add… You can't force people to be interested in what you're writing about.  They either already are, or they're interested in something else.

You're NOT blogging to convince people to care about what you're writing about.

You're blogging to find the people that already care about what you're writing about.

Reason #2 Why Your Blog Makes ZERO Money – You're trying to convince people to care about your content.

I see this mistake all the time from bloggers…

They write a blog article, then try to convince their Instagram followers, or email subscribers that it's a good article and they should read it.

People are either interested in what you're writing about or they're not.

You might write the best article in the world about the “Top 10 Ways to Bake Pancakes” but if I don't like pancakes I'm not going to read your article.  That's just the way it is.

The first step in building a premium brand for your blog is to focus on the people looking for what you're writing about.

The common term for this is to find your niche.

If you want to make money blogging you MUST find your niche.

0.0000001% of bloggers will prove me wrong.  They'll start a blog, write about random stuff, and make good money.

Out of the 1.94 Billion websites on the internet today I'm willing to bet that's going to be VERY few people.

If you want to make money blogging you need to build a brand around a specific niche.

I know it might hurt… I understand.

You enjoy blogging about baking, and traveling, and parenting, and sewing, and dieting…

If you truly love writing about all those things and you want to continue doing that please understand your chances of making significant money blogging go WAY down.

I will explain…

To begin let's think about some real-world examples of this niche concept.

Almost every successful business in the world has a niche (or specific target audience).

Now, I understand many of these examples I'm about to use do have some variety, but I can almost guarantee one single word (or niche) comes to mind when you think of these businesses.

Let's do a fun activity!

When you read the list of businesses below, think of the FIRST WORD that comes to mind about the niche of the business.

Here we go:

• McDonald's
• Apple
• Ford
• Nike
• Home Depot
• Delta

What were the words you came up with for each of these businesses?

Here's mine…

• McDonald's (burgers)
• Apple (iPhone)
• Ford (Cars)
• Nike (Shoes)
• Home Depot (Tools)
• Delta (Flights)

McDonald's is an extremely successful company.  Why don't they start selling power tools?

Nike also has a lot of money… Why don't they start selling Pizza? Everyone loves pizza!

Why doesn't Ford Motor Company open some grocery stores?  They have the money…

These companies became successful because they focused on their niche.

They didn't try to appeal to everyone.  They know what they're good at and they focus on being the best at it.

Businesses have specific target customers and they know it.

How do you think multiple companies are able to be successful within a competing industry?…

Think about cars.  Super competitive.

• Ford
• Chevy
• Toyota
• Honda
• BMW
• Mercedes
• Hyundai
• Kia
• Voltswagon

I could go on and on… All these companies are super successful but they all sell essentially the same thing!  How is that possible?

They're successful because they all have something unique to offer to different types of people.

You may think your niche is “too competitive” but YOU have something unique to offer too – your voice!

There is not a single human being on earth exactly like you.  That's amazing.  7 Billion people and we are all different.

Your voice, your style, your brand, your experiences are all unique.  People out there will resonate with YOU!

The same way some people like Toyotas and others like Honda…  Some people will like your travel blog and others will like Sally's travel blog.

You're both blogging about travel, but you both have something unique to offer.

How do you increase the chances of people liking your blog more than Sally's blog?

You WOW them!

Bad experiences lead people to change.  If I buy a Honda and it breaks all the time, I'm going to have a bad experience and look for a different brand.

If I'm “wowed” by my car I'm probably going to be a loyal customer for life.

So many people think that in order to “get more readers than Sally” they have to go after Sally's blog, tear it down, attack her content, etc…

That's a loser mentality.

I want to share a quote that I LOVE from Gary Vaynerchuk:

You're not going to get more people to read your blog by tearing Sally's blog down…

You're going to get more people to read your blog by building a better blog!

Find your niche and be the best you can be.

If you don't know what your niche is yet that's ok…

Take your time.  Sometimes it takes days, weeks, months, or years to truly find your niche.

Trust me…

I started Learn How in 2017 and I've changed or narrowed my niche many times along the way.

You DO NOT need to start over…

I see a lot of people freak out about this.

If you've been blogging for years don't waste all that hard work!  Just decide to focus a little more and dial in on your niche a little narrower.

You can always change your WordPress theme, update your colors, create a new logo, focus more on your content strategy.

I will say if you're currently blogging about cooking and your blog URL is cookingwithkate.com and now you want to blog specifically about snorkeling in Hawaii you might have to consider a fresh start…

But most people should be fine with a simple rebranding.

When you're thinking about your niche ask yourself these two questions:

1. What do I want to write about?
2. Who do I want to write to?

When you can answer those two questions specifically you have found your niche.

Many people overlook the second question, which is just as important as the first.  It's easy to say, “I want to blog about cooking.” But it's a little more challenging to decide who you want to write to about cooking.

Both questions are important though.

Businesses answer these two questions too…  It might be more subtle than you think, but their messaging and marketing is focused on specific types of people.

Mercedes Benz for example:

1. They want to make nice cars.
2. They sell their cars to wealthy individuals.

You can clearly see it in their marketing, pricing, and features.  Mercedes TV commercials aren't showing 16-year-olds getting their first car.

They know who their customer is, and it's NOT everyone.

Reason #3 Why Your Blog Makes ZERO Money – You're trying to write to everyone.

Everyone is not an audience.

You might not intentionally be writing to try to please everyone.

But that's also a mistake…

You need to be intentionally trying to please your ideal reader.

When you know what you want to write about and who you want to write to you'll discover your ideal reader.

Your ideal reader is the person who finds your blog and says, “Wow! This is for me!”  They already care about what you're writing about.  You don't need to convince them…

As soon as you understand who your ideal reader is you'll be able to build your brand.

Almost everything in this post up to this point has been philosophical.

We're laying a foundation of the strategy and mindset behind making money blogging.

We've talked a lot about “wowing” your visitor and making a good first impression.

The first key to wowing somebody is to understand who they are and what they want.  That's why you need to pick a niche and find your ideal reader.

When you understand what your ideal reader wants you know what to give them.  You also know how to build your brand for them.

Now it's time to get into the practical how-to of wowing your ideal reader.

Make Your Ideal Reader Feel at Home

It all starts with the first impression.

If someone is landing on your blog for the first time and they know nothing about you, it's vital that you make them feel at home.  In other words, make them feel comfortable.

You make your reader feel comfortable by resonating with them.

You're going to start with design.

3 Keys to Premium Design:

1. Theme
2. Colors
3. Images

What makes something “premium”?  A commodity of higher quality.

Your blog is a commodity.  A commodity is essentially a good or service with wide availability.  Since there are millions of blogs on the internet and probably quite a few in the same niche you're in, you're a commodity.

You separate yourself from the other blogs by becoming “premium” or of higher quality.

What's the first way to build a premium brand as a blogger?

1. Premium Theme

I'm going to assume you are blogging on WordPress (where you should be).  If not, that's a totally different topic for debate that I won't go into in this post…

If you are on WordPress you know about themes.

There are two types of themes on WordPress – Free and Premium.

You're probably already thinking I'm going to tell you to go buy a premium theme…  That's actually not true!

You don't need to buy a premium theme to have a “premium” theme.

90% of the time it's worth it to buy a premium theme OR use a tool that allows you to customize your free theme.

Elementor is an excellent free plugin (with a Pro Version too) that allows you to customize pages on themes.

That's one way you can make your theme of “premium quality” without buying a premium theme.

Let's talk about some examples of good and bad designs.

Here is an example of the WordPress 2012 theme.  It's free and boring.

This theme is NOT helping you build a premium brand.

BUT!!! When you use tools like Elementor or whatever your favorite page builder is to customize your theme you can create your own “premium” or high-quality theme like shown below.

I highly recommend you consider investing in either:

• A premium WordPress theme
• A page builder plugin

Either of these tools will help you design a premium quality theme for your blog.  The bottom line is that most of the free WordPress themes don't quite give you the customization you need for full control of your website to make it unique.

If you're looking for one of my favorite premium WordPress themes, go check out HighEnd.  It's cheap, easy to use, and you can create a VERY professional looking blog.  It's the theme I'm using on this website right now.

How to Make Your Premium Theme Look Good

DEMOS.

Most premium themes come with demos.  Demos are predesigned versions of your theme and all you have to do is go through and replace the text and images with what you want.  In some cases, you can rearrange things to make it your own.

You can see on the HighEnd theme website there are a bunch of demos you can import and start customizing.

All the demos you see are built on the HighEnd theme, they've just done all the difficult building for you.

Demos are the way to go if you don't want to spend a ton of time trying to come up with your own layout.

If you decide not to buy a premium theme and use a page builder like Elementor, you're going to spend a little more time exercising your creative muscles.

You'll be able to create some cool content on your website with Elementor, but it's not done for you like demos.

If you really want a killer combo, try a premium theme AND a page builder!  That's some serious customization!

The theme you choose and the demo you choose are very important for your brand.

Look at some of the demo examples above for HighEnd.

You can get a feel from the demo images alone what type of branding the theme fits with.

Think about your ideal reader and what type of design will make them feel comfortable on your blog.  What resonates with them?  What are some other brands and websites they enjoy? How can you help them feel at home on your blog?

If your ideal reader is into BMW, Nordstrom, Starbucks, and Gucci you better make sure your blog is designed to appeal to that type of person!  Cheesy cartoons and whacky colors are going to scare them away before they get a chance to read your content.

Secret Strategy: Go to websites that your ideal reader would visit, and look at the website design and layout for inspiration.

What's the logo placement? What's the header menu style? What's the homepage design?

This will help you design your own theme to appeal to your ideal reader.

Step 2 of Premium Branding – Colors

Colors are often overlooked by bloggers.

If you want to create a premium brand you need a color palette.

Color palettes usually have 4-6 colors that go well together.  A simple Google search of “color palettes” will bring up hundreds of results and websites with ideas for color palettes.

Scroll through the images tab and look for websites with color palette ideas and you'll find one that fits well with your ideal reader.

That's exactly what I did for this website…

I Googled “color palettes” found 3 that I thought would fit well with my brand and would resonate with my ideal reader, and I asked for feedback from my ideal readers.

I texted my color palettes to people and asked which one resonates best with you as a female blogger in your mid 20s-30s who enjoys premium brands.

The colors you'll find on my website, logos, and menus are the colors in my color palette.

As you can see my color palette isn't something fancy or special.  I found it on Google.

I use the #HEX color codes below the colors to find my colors when I'm creating graphics, guides, logos, and design elements on my website.

I also try to look for photos that fit well with my color palette where possible.  

Find a color palette and try to use those colors as best you can when designing elements on your blog.

We've now covered the first two steps of premium branding:

✅ Premium Theme

✅ Color Palette

Let's talk about the final step…

Step 3 of Premium Branding – Images

Look for professional quality images for your blog.

If you take your own photos TAKE GOOD PHOTOS!  No one likes looking at crappy photos.  If you use stock images, look for good images.

There are a handful of websites that offer free stock photos, but if you can afford it, some premium stock photos for important pages on your website could be worth it.

If you need professional photos for guides, E-Books, or other materials — premium stock photos are a good option.

Don't be afraid to invest in premium photos if you need them!

BUSINESS KEY – You get out what you put in.

If you're not willing to invest in yourself don't expect others to invest in you (whether that's their time or money).

Take your images and graphics seriously – and use them.

I'm going to include this amazing infographic made by MDG Advertising from Jeff Bulas‘ blog.

This infographic has a ton of juicy information about using images, but it's also a great example of a good image!

Infographics like these do REALLY well on blogs and get a lot of shares and links (which is why you're seeing it on my blog with a link back to Jeff's blog).

Yes, these infographics are complicated to create, but they might be worth the investment…  You can find people on Fiverr to make these for you for an affordable price.

The key takeaway here is to use GOOD images, and use them often!

We live in a visual world.

It's very hard to get interested in a massive blog article with ZERO images…

Let's review.

3 Keys to Premium Branding

✅ Premium Theme

✅ Color Palette

✅ Images

With those 3 components optimized you can make money blogging by building a premium brand.

Easier said than done right?…

I teach this strategy of premium design and branding to a lot of my blogging students, but it can be very difficult to implement the strategy.

I've shown you here how to find a premium theme, how to find a color palette and how to use images…

But sometimes a little more detailed guidance is nice right!?

If you would like to see exactly how I would go about finding and creating a premium brand for my blog grab my FREE 3-day video course!

Once again this is FREEEEEEEE.

FREE 3-Day Mini-Course – How to Create Your Premium Blogging Brand

In this course, you'll get 3 days of video tutorials to show you exactly how to implement this premium design process.

I'll show you in the videos exactly how I design my blog, use colors, images, and more!

If you feel like your blog could use a facelift I recommend checking it out…

Here's a link ➡️ CLICK HERE TO GET THE FREE COURSE

After you complete the course I'll send you a link to my post on how to implement the next strategy to make money blogging…

NEXT POST: How to use software & tools to grow your blog!